by Michael Woodhead  

Paracetamol is as effective as ibuprofen for analgesia in children who have been discharged after an acute bone fracture, New Zealand researchers have shown.

A prospective randomised controlled study of over 70 children  aged 5-14 years conducted at the Children’s Emergency Department of the Starship Hospital in Auckland found no differences in pain levels in children over a 48-hour period who took paracetamol or ibuprofen in an outpatient setting.

The authors of the study, published in Emergency Medicine Australasia (21: 490-96), said there was little published information on pain experiences of children following acute fractures in an outpatient setting. 

“Most children with an acute fracture can be managed by regular simple oral analgesia and standard immobilisation techniques,” said study lead author Dr Michael Shepherd.

He said paediatric limb fracture is a common injury that presents frequently to the ED, and that parents often report that children experience significant pain after discharge with an acute limb fracture.

In the study, children were given either paracetamol 15mg/kg every four hours or ibuprofen 10mg/kg every eight hours. As well as having similar pain scores, children showed no differences in sleep patterns with either analgesic regimen.

The study authors said ibuprofen might provide more effective or immediate pain relief in the acute phase, but this difference diminished in the outpatient setting.